This
year, the 6th annual Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail
conference was held at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden
Yards on October 12th through October 15th. Thanks to all the
attendees for making this the biggest and best conference yet with
nearly 200 attendees, split almost 50/50 between Law Enforcement and
Loss Prevention.

As always, the conference began with awards for Retail Loss
Prevention Investigator of the year and also the Law Enforcement
Investigator of the year. These awards are given based on
submissions from the industry, then the CLEAR Board of Directors
chooses the recipients. This year, the Loss Prevention Investigator
of the year was Beau Lachance from Home Depot and Law Enforcement
Investigator of the year was Mike Mauldin from the Harris County
District Attorney's office. Congratulations!

There
were 16 different presentations over the 2 ½ days. As always, there
was a great range of topics that would appeal to both retail Loss
Prevention and Law enforcement. Tuesday's conference started off
with a presentation on mobile surveillance by Det. Edgar Whyte from
LPAPD, statements and case study by Dave Zulawski and how to build
an ORC by Vance Gilbert, then a presentation on Civil Unrest
Preparation and Retail Business Recovery by Col. Melissa Hyatt of
the Baltimore PD, Jon Grander of Caleres Shoe Co., Dave Cohen from
Walgreens and Millie Kresevich from Luxottica Retail. We wrapped up
with legislative updates by Millie Kresevich from Luxottica Retail.

Wednesday's presentations started off with Gus Downing giving an
overview of the national ORC problem and Gene Smith presenting on
the Loss Prevention Foundation. We rolled into presentations on gift
card fraud by Chris Guerra and then a Rental Car security group with
Jake Annable from Enterprise and Dennis Letts from Avis. The final
presentation of the day was by Scott Guginsky from the Jewelers
Security Alliance. We wrapped up the day with a reception where we
rented the Sports Legends Museum at Camden yards.

The final day had a presentation by Mark Youngblood Michael Keller
and Matt Callahan from the US Secret Service, a gift card fraud
presentation by Scott Sanford from Barnes and Noble and a
presentation on Jewelry store robberies by Mark Neapolitan from
Signet Jewelers.

A great big thanks to all of our vendor partners who help make it
all possible. As always, one of the biggest benefits was the
networking among peers, and between LP and Law Enforcement. Next
year, we'll be back in Reno, NV from October 24th through the 27th.
We hope to see everyone there!!!!!

Law Enforcement Investigator of the Year Award Winner,
Michael Mauldin

Kentucky State Police Investigate Organized Crime Ring in Lexington Area
Kentucky State Police Post 12 Frankfort, in conjunction with the Kroger Loss
Prevention Organized Crime Division, ABC, and Lexington Metro Police have been
conducting undercover transactions in the Lexington Metro area over the past
month. The investigations continued today as multiple agencies served two search
warrants at local Lexington businesses. At Florence Food Mart at 760 Florence
Road KSP, along with agents from the Alcohol Beverage Control, Kroger, Lexington
Metro Police executed a search warrant as the result of stolen items from
Kroger's being bought for pennies on the dollar. Arrested and charged with
Engaging in Organized Crime and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon was
Mufeed Ayyad, age 48, of Lexington, KY.. Located inside the Florence Food Mart
was a semi-automatic handgun near the register. KSP and additional agencies
converged on the Nikel's Food Market located at 2353 Paris Pike in Lexington.
Similar transactions had occurred in the past weeks utilizing stolen merchandise
from Kroger's. Arrested and charged with Engaging in Organized Crime was Nikel
Ildemar, age 43, of Lexington, Ky. Also arrested was Joao Batista Da Silva, age
52, of Lexington, KY.
facebook.com

Laurel
Co, KY: Five Walmart shoplifters arrested on Organized Crime charges
Deputies in Laurel County have arrested five people after a shoplifting
investigation. The arrests happened at Wal-Mart and in the Wal-Mart parking lot
near Corbin. Deputies say they were called to the store after Wal-Mart's loss
prevention team had detained one person. Deputies found four people in that
vehicle. They tell WKYT that Bowman was shoplifting items inside Wal-Mart,
bringing items back to the vehicle, and the people in the car were bagging the
shoplifted items into new Wal-mart bags. Deputies say Bowman was then taking
those items back inside Wal-Mart, attempting to return the items and receive a
gift card in exchange. The car involved was impounded.
wkyt.com

Council Bluffs, IA: Prison Escapee steals $1,200 of merchandise
from Walmart; tased by Police
A Council Bluffs man was subdued by a stun gun on Friday morning after allegedly
trying to steal electronics from Walmart. At 6 a.m., Todd Jensen, 41, was
arrested on suspicion of second-degree robbery, resisting arrest and being a
fugitive from justice. Jensen was wanted for escape from the Iowa Department of
Corrections, according to the Council Bluffs Police Department. According to
police, Jensen was seen removing security alarms from electronic merchandise
inside the Walmart. Jensen proceeded to push a shopping cart full of merchandise
valued at more than $1,200 out of the building without making any attempt to pay
for the items. When approached by a Council Bluffs police officer and store
employees, Jensen pushed the cart into an employee and took off running,
knocking over a manager. The officer struggled briefly with Jensen before
deploying a stun in order to gain control of him, police said.
nonpareilonline.com

Albuquerque, NM: 13 victims of Identity Theft -
Shopping spree ends at suspect's home
Albuquerque police have arrested a suspect linked to more than a dozen identity
theft cases. Sheila Rosenau, 31, is accused of receiving thousands of dollars
worth of merchandise that was purchased with stolen credit cards and then having
it delivered to her home. Detectives were able to identify about 13 victims, but
police say based on what they found in Rosenau's home, she could be linked to
more cases. She was also wanted on absconding from her probation for a previous
identity theft case in Sandoval County.
krqe.com